Additional Information on Thomas Prence

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Extracted from, Charles Edward Banks, The English ancestry and homes of the Pilgrim Fathers who came to Plymouth on the "Mayflower" in 1620, the '"Fortune" in 1621, and the "Anne" and the "Little James" in 1623 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1962), 125 digital images, Hathi Trust.

Interesting contemporary letters concerning the father and grandfather of Governor Prence are in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Thomas Prince, Senior, of All Hallows, in his will of 1630 mentions 'my son Thomas Prence now remayninge in New England in parts beyond seas' (P.C.C. 70, Scrope). As he bequeaths a 'seale Ringe of Gold' to his son, it may be presumed that the family was armigerous. The future Governor was brought up in the neighborhood whence came so many of the passengers of the first two ships, and the Mayflower must have taken her passengers in sight of his home, near the Tower.

'The proper spelling of this surname is Prince and it was so written by his immediate and collateral forebears, but he chose to write it Prence.'

Extracted from, Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 2 vols. (1943, 1931), 2:683-694; digital images, Hathi Trust. Note, see the text for Ferris' extensive references.

Thomas Prence, son of Thomas of Lechlade, co. Gloucester, England, was born probably at that place about 1600-1 and emigrated in 1621 to the New World in company with Jonathan Brewster (Elder William) on the "Fortune," which sailed from London in the early part of July, 1621, but was unable to clear the channel until the end of August and did not arrive at New Plymouth until November 9 of that year ...

His residence was first at Plymouth, but before the spring of 1632 he had followed his father-in-law, William Brester, to Duxbury, where Patience Brewster, the wife of Thomas Prence, died in 1634 and whee the residences of these two families continued until 1644, at which time the beloved Elder William died and Thomas Prence removed with his family to Nauset on the Cape ...

While resident in Eastham, and immediately following the death of Governor Bradford, Thomas Prence was unanimously chosen to succeed him, and thereafter for sixteen consecutive years, or until his own death in 1673, he held the office of governor ...

The summary of his service shows that he held the office of governor in 1634, 1638 and 1657-73; assistant or magistrate at least twenty-two years, in 1632, 1635-7, 1639-56; treasurer 1636-7; commissioner for Plymouth for the United Colonies for thirteen years, 1645, 1650, 1653-8, 1661-3 and 1670-2; that he was a member of the council for war in 1637 (against the Pequots), in 1642-3, 1646, 1657-8 and 1667, being president of that council during the last four terms; and he also held various special civil and military trusts ..

A summary of his extensive service to the coloy shows that it covered a wide scope:

1) His handling in 1661 of the first instance of witchcraft ... in Plymouth ...

2) The comparative infrequency of Indian troubles in Plymouth ...

3) The treatment by Thomas Prence of the unjust demands of certain Massachusetts men (see Grant p. 372, and Olmstead, p. 612) to a tract of land on the Connecticut River (now Windsor) was tolerant and generous ..

4) The administration of Thomas Prence is noted for his vigorous stand in favor of education ...

5) Probably the greatest service rendered by Thomas Prence, associated with William Brewster and six other leading Plymouth men ... was the personal assumption by them in 1626-7 of the entire debt of the colony and its ultimate payment ..

When the Pilgrims came to America in 1620 it was as members of a stock company which had two classes of stockholders: the men in England who had invested money and were called "adventurers" and the people who emigrated, venuring their lives and labor and such funds as they had, who were called "planters." Everything was to be held in common for seven years ...

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